May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 NIV

For many years I taught the prep class at our Christian school. As part of the introduction to Christianity that I began with each year, I would show the children an illustration of what God does in our life. It was a simple but effective object lesson. I would stand two containers before the children, one holding red food colouring in water, the other a jug containing household bleach. I explained to them that the red water is like sin in our lives. I would present the jug of clear liquid and tell them it represented Jesus. I would carefully pour the bleach into the red water and it would make it clear. The children would all ‘oooh and aaaah’ and I prayed they would understand what only God can do. His blood alone can cleanse us from sin, however, to be sanctified and stay blameless means remaining connected to Jesus every day and living covered by his beautiful righteousness and, continually growing more like him. There is no safer place to be than in the arms of Jesus. 

photo by cottonbro-pexels+